Maritime flags of British Heligoland (1807-1952) in 1832.

Thanks to the fact that nowadays more and more books are digitized we are able to read books that are some times for decades no longer available for the public for several reasons. That’s quite a pity while these books contains useful information while the archives are destroyed, incomplete or nor accessible.

Heligoland is nowadays part of Germany but was before that British property. In 1714 captured Denmark Heligoland from the Duchy of Schleswig. Due to the Napoleonic wars was she seized by the United Kingdom which became by the Treaty of Kiel dated 14 January 1814 official owner until the British government handed it over in 1952 to Germany. Heligoland is asmall German archipelago in the Heligoland Bight in the south east corner of the North Sea. The maritime flags of the 19th century reflecting the fact that is was at that moment British property but the griffin in the red coloured flag tells another story.

The pictures of the flags are from: J.W. Norie. Plates descriptive of the maritime flags of all Nations, London, 1832.